Friday, March 30, 2012

Supernatural 7x18 "Party On, Garth"

Well, it happened. I knew it was coming, and it came, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. For those who haven't watched the episode yet and don't want to know the big "twist" ending, avert your eyes, because here it is: Bobby is, in fact, a ghost. Traveling with the boys via his old flask that Dean keeps on him at all times, and responsible for all of the stuff we assumed he was responsible for. The missing beer, the appearing pages, and tonight, a moving Samurai sword.

And here's the thing about a show like Supernatural. Yes, it allows people to come back from the dead, and that's half the fun of the show, that you can always bring back someone. But that also becomes a problem too, because you can always bring back someone. Death is impermanent, and therefore not as affecting as it would be on nearly any other show. And the death of Bobby just felt so final to me, that I'm not sure how I feel about them already bringing him back. I think I kind of felt the same thing about bringing back Castiel too, but perhaps in an even bigger way, now that I think about it. At least the Bobby thing was hinted at, but Cas it was just like oh he's been here and we'll find him at just this right moment. Anyway, I'm not going to keep going on about it. Let's just get to the recap.

Recap/review of Supernatural 7x18 "Party On, Garth" by freshfromthe.com
Party time, excellent!
A couple brothers end up getting killed by some apparent invisible monster. Garth, the hunter we met in an episode that shall not be named, thought he had killed the thing after the death of the first brother, but calls in the big guns when whatever it is apparently is still around and looking for more gruesome bloody kills. They get to investigating, and soon figure out that the thing in question is not actually an invisible killer werewolf, but rather something that requires you to be drunk in order to see it. But what in the world could that possibly be, we wonder?

It turns out that there's this whole backstory drama surrounding this beer company that brews Thighslapper Ale. You see, one of the former owners was ousted from the company when he didn't want to sell his stake to some uppity up types. He was pissed, so he decided to get revenge on his other two partners by using some bad mojo. Then he killed himself. I'm not sure why he killed himself before he could see his handiwork go awry, but who knows. Because whether he wanted it to or not, this thing he summoned into a Sake bottle turned out to be a Shojo, a kind of Japanese spirit that haunts breweries and such. Only this particular shojo goes after the thing that the suicide dude lost, his "baby" of the company... aka the babies of his partners.

Okay let's try to make that more understandable, because I feel like I did a terrible job. This dude loved the brewery like it was his baby, so when he was ousted, he decided to get revenge, an eye for an eye sort of deal, and used this Shojo ghost demon thing, only it takes the eye for an eye to mean that it should kill the other dude's babies rather than the dudes themselves. Because that's more poetic or whatnot. Alright, that makes a little more sense.

Recap/review of Supernatural 7x18 "Party On, Garth" by freshfromthe.com
She's to your left! I mean, my left!
Anyway! Now that they know who the Shojo is after, they split up. Dean goes to get the specific weapon they need while Sam trails the sister of the aforementioned dead brothers, and Garth finds out that the other owner dude had a secret love child, so he goes to protect that guy. Only he has to be drunk in order to see the Shojo, so of course once she shows up and wants to kill the kid, he gets knocked out. Sam also shows up, and also gets knocked out. That leaves it to Dean, who has the killing weapon anyway, and who is also the only sober one, to kill the demon. Luckily, Sam wakes up in time to be able to tell him where the demon is, since Dean can't see it. Some fighting happens, the sword goes flying, and voila, it magically slides back across the floor to Dean, and he's able to gank that creepy Japanese horror movie villain. And everyone lives and Garth gives them hugs and it's just all happy happy, right? Or IS IT?!

While hunting this demon thing, however, Garth was astute enough to notice that their EMF meters kinda went weirdo whenever they were around Dean's flask, aka Bobby's flask. He surmised that maybe Bobby was actually still around, just, you know, ghostly. Sam also admitted that he thought as much back when that whole beer thing happened before, and tried contacting Bobby, but it didn't work. Now that this sword thing has happened, Dean is starting to wonder if maybe they're right, only when he tries to reach out, nothing happens. Maybe they're making it all up, like how normal people sometimes think they see their dead loved ones around too?

It turns out, no, they're not just making it up, because we actually get to see a glimpse of Ghost Bobby, who is apparently having a hard time making direct connection with the boys despite his attempts at indirect connections. He even calls them idjits and says balls, so you know his catchphrases are intact in the afterlife.

Random Thoughts:

- Despite what it may sound like, I actually quite enjoyed the episode, particularly all of the drunk stuff. Why is watching drunk people so funny? Even in real life, if you're sober, it's hilarious.

- I loved the consecration of the Samurai sword with the "running spring" of bottled water.

- Poison by Bell Biv Devoe, need I say more?

- Mr. Fizzles. The best was when he said he didn't approve of LIARS. Hahahaha

- So are Sam's visions gone forever? Will they eventually come back? Will Cas be able to fight off the hallucifer? Questions to be answered at a later date, I guess.

- Another mini hiatus until April 20th.

Quotes:

"You've been Garthed." - Garth

Sam: Have either of you ever heard of Thighslapper Ale?
Garth: Is that a stripper or a beverage?
Dean: Beverage. For douchebags.

"Beer's not food, it's whatever water is." - Dean

Dean: Wow. Party on, Garth.
Garth: I don't even usually drink beer. Messes with my depth perception. Especially when I skinny dip.

Sam: Can you even get drunk anymore? It's kinda like drinking a vitamin for you, right?
Dean: Shut up.

"Come with me if you want to live." - Garth, getting his Terminator on

"So your theory is, we're practically regular people about something for once." - Dean

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

5 comments:

  1. I did enjoy the episode. I know we're split a little on the ghost thing, and while I think what ended up with Cas is okay for now, I agree his return was a little ho-hum and terribly convenient.

    I'm buckling up for the ride and hoping the writers finish the season in a satisfactory way.

    Does anyone else think this show has had WAY too many hiatuses? If they were ever struggling to keep an audience, my guess is they are now. It's tough to follow a show that has all of these random mini and not so mini hiatuses. Boo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If they were gonna bring Bobby back so soon why kill him off to begin with? Seriously the writers pulled a serious "Death of Superman" moment here. The writers fresh out of ideas kill off a main character in a heroic self sacrificial manner, then write the next couple of stories to bring about his return. By bringing him back so soon and in such a manner makes Bobby's send off episode which aired mere months before his return mind you, lose all impact and meaning.

      Cas's return was nothing special he did his angel thing said his "I'm Sorry's" to the boys, healed Sam and that's it. The whole episode felt more fan service than anything else. I guess we will have to see how this arc pans out before we can pass final judgement.

      Delete
  2. The hiatuses really bother me as well. We have one episode then it's a month off then two more then an additional month off and the pattern continues. It's really annoying.

    If there was any episode the harkened back to the early years with a routine hunt and kill story it's this one, and boy this episode was GREAT! The danger was real the effects were impressive, the comedy and terror well balenced and a terrific plot twist. Adam Glass may have wrote some stinkers in the past (imo) but this one clearly is the best episode he ever wrote.

    Anyone also see the parabels of drinking leads to death? Usually in a horror movie aimed at teens whenever a teen binge drinks alcohol they die. Adam managed to put that in the episode as well. Except the hunters and the lil girl (who realized the mistake and felt immediately guilty) any character seen actively drinking died at the hands of the Shojo.

    I also enjoyed the many comparisons to Wayne's World from the title "Party on, Garth" to the Pacer that the boys are seen driving. This episode was full of those easter eggs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I feel like there have been more mini hiatuses than normal this season, but it could be that it's always like this. It really does mess with momentum, though. Personally I think it serves shows better to have just one big hiatus in the middle rather than keep cutting it up, particularly if they are more serialized one hour dramas. I'm sure the people who run the shows feel the same way, but alas it comes down to the network making those sorts of scheduling decisions.

      Delete
    2. Too bad this actually is normal for this show to go on a hiatus multiple times. Supernatural has usually 22 episodes to round out one year, while most shows have 24-25 a year. That loss would take into account the frequent absence of new episodes. Good news though after April 20th it's new episodes till the season ends.

      Delete